(EFT) Emotional Freedom Technique is an alternative healing method invented by Gary Craig in the 1990s. Based on the teachings of his one time mentor Roger Callahan, it has been hailed as miraculous by many holistic healers and doctors, equally disparaged by critics who call it pseudo science, and in spite of, or perhaps because of the controversy is wildly popular. It is available for purchase on DVD on the internet, is taught in workshops in conjunction with the DVD and has been glowingly endorsed by celebrities such as Deepak Chopra. The basic theory of EFT is simple, heal the mind and good health will follow. EFT is The Power of Positive Thinking taken to a whole new post modernist level.
The success of EFT lies in the balancing of the body's subtle energies that flow through the body, in much the same way as blood flows through veins. This balancing is done with an elegant sort of emotional acupuncture. Instead of using needles, specific points on the body are stimulated by tapping with the fingertips.
As you are tapping, you say a reminder phrase that helps you to stay focused on the specific issue or feeling that you are looking to treat. The default phrase is "Even though I have this ...... (name the problem), I completely love and accept myself". Advanced EFT practitioners will vary this phrasing considerably to approach problems in a variety of ways.
There are many You Tube videos showing EFT in action, and you can tap along with many of them, experiencing your own personal shifts and transformations. The issue here is that although you will hopefully have an experience of EFT working for you, this is a disjointed approach as there is no formal training. This means that if you try to use it on yourself without having foundational knowledge, it may work, or it may not. If it doesn't work, you could become disheartened and put EFT aside. Again, this would be tragic as, if used properly, EFT could literally be life changing for you.
One potentially excellent source of training in EFT comes from DVD-based courses. The advantage here is that you can learn the core skills in a structured manner whilst seeing EFT being used on real people with real issues. There is nothing like watching this technique being used in practice both for learning the process itself and also because it is so great to be able to watch while someone's issue is being (hopefully) resolved in front of your eyes.
Eastern and western health philosophy differ in the way the two systems handle psychology. Asian philosophy emphasizes the unity of body and mind, whereas western philosophy separates the body and mind. The classical Chinese associate the emotions directly with the organs and they do not perceive the emotions as being stuck in the brain as the westerners do. Taoist and Buddhist philosophers link the emotions to each organ and have developed deep theories of psychology based on these relationships. Thus, the state of mind and the stage of one's body are intimately connected. In the West, although it is understood that certain physiological conditions can influence the mind, mental and emotional disorders are generally not connected to specific organs or organic functions, but are believed to be wholly centered in the brain. Fundamentally, the Chinese associated the emotions and related mental states to the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) and to the organs associated with them. In general, the emotions are related to the organ associated with each element.
There are disadvantages of using DVD-based training: Firstly you are not able to ask your own questions. Learning is a personal experience and DVDs are not able to give the individual attention that can help you really get the technique. In addition, if you get stuck when you are first starting, as with the other learning methods above, it can be very difficult to know what to do, without any direct, immediate help.
Again, if you are not able to get it to work for you, you will come unstuck and your DVDs will get put back on the shelf. Lastly, if you wished to go on and take a more advanced level of EFT training, the pre-requisite of formal workshop training means DVD training will not be sufficient and you will need to attend an EFT course in person anyway.
The connection between the mind and body has been a subject of fascination for decades, and there is no doubt that the mind plays a vital part in the well being of the body. What is unclear is how effective EFT is in tapping into the connection between the two. Its popularity and vague results when put to the test make it difficult to determine hype from reality, and further scrutiny is necessary before it can be accepted or rejected. We are only in the beginning phases of learning just how powerful the mind/body connection is, and it would be irresponsible to completely dismiss the power of alternative therapies including EFT, and equally irresponsible to accept them without proper and in depth study.
If possible, attend a workshop that is accredited by the AAMET (Association for the Advancement of Meridian Energy Therapies) as this is the largest EFT organization in Europe and the U.S. If you wish to become an EFT practitioner, as we go in to the future, the AAMET is most likely to be the first organization to be approved by government health departments; as I write there is no other EFT organization that comes anywhere close in terms of its formalized structures designed to provide a clear curriculum and protocols for the safety of practitioners and clients.
The success of EFT lies in the balancing of the body's subtle energies that flow through the body, in much the same way as blood flows through veins. This balancing is done with an elegant sort of emotional acupuncture. Instead of using needles, specific points on the body are stimulated by tapping with the fingertips.
As you are tapping, you say a reminder phrase that helps you to stay focused on the specific issue or feeling that you are looking to treat. The default phrase is "Even though I have this ...... (name the problem), I completely love and accept myself". Advanced EFT practitioners will vary this phrasing considerably to approach problems in a variety of ways.
There are many You Tube videos showing EFT in action, and you can tap along with many of them, experiencing your own personal shifts and transformations. The issue here is that although you will hopefully have an experience of EFT working for you, this is a disjointed approach as there is no formal training. This means that if you try to use it on yourself without having foundational knowledge, it may work, or it may not. If it doesn't work, you could become disheartened and put EFT aside. Again, this would be tragic as, if used properly, EFT could literally be life changing for you.
One potentially excellent source of training in EFT comes from DVD-based courses. The advantage here is that you can learn the core skills in a structured manner whilst seeing EFT being used on real people with real issues. There is nothing like watching this technique being used in practice both for learning the process itself and also because it is so great to be able to watch while someone's issue is being (hopefully) resolved in front of your eyes.
Eastern and western health philosophy differ in the way the two systems handle psychology. Asian philosophy emphasizes the unity of body and mind, whereas western philosophy separates the body and mind. The classical Chinese associate the emotions directly with the organs and they do not perceive the emotions as being stuck in the brain as the westerners do. Taoist and Buddhist philosophers link the emotions to each organ and have developed deep theories of psychology based on these relationships. Thus, the state of mind and the stage of one's body are intimately connected. In the West, although it is understood that certain physiological conditions can influence the mind, mental and emotional disorders are generally not connected to specific organs or organic functions, but are believed to be wholly centered in the brain. Fundamentally, the Chinese associated the emotions and related mental states to the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) and to the organs associated with them. In general, the emotions are related to the organ associated with each element.
There are disadvantages of using DVD-based training: Firstly you are not able to ask your own questions. Learning is a personal experience and DVDs are not able to give the individual attention that can help you really get the technique. In addition, if you get stuck when you are first starting, as with the other learning methods above, it can be very difficult to know what to do, without any direct, immediate help.
Again, if you are not able to get it to work for you, you will come unstuck and your DVDs will get put back on the shelf. Lastly, if you wished to go on and take a more advanced level of EFT training, the pre-requisite of formal workshop training means DVD training will not be sufficient and you will need to attend an EFT course in person anyway.
The connection between the mind and body has been a subject of fascination for decades, and there is no doubt that the mind plays a vital part in the well being of the body. What is unclear is how effective EFT is in tapping into the connection between the two. Its popularity and vague results when put to the test make it difficult to determine hype from reality, and further scrutiny is necessary before it can be accepted or rejected. We are only in the beginning phases of learning just how powerful the mind/body connection is, and it would be irresponsible to completely dismiss the power of alternative therapies including EFT, and equally irresponsible to accept them without proper and in depth study.
If possible, attend a workshop that is accredited by the AAMET (Association for the Advancement of Meridian Energy Therapies) as this is the largest EFT organization in Europe and the U.S. If you wish to become an EFT practitioner, as we go in to the future, the AAMET is most likely to be the first organization to be approved by government health departments; as I write there is no other EFT organization that comes anywhere close in terms of its formalized structures designed to provide a clear curriculum and protocols for the safety of practitioners and clients.
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